Two teen scribes and their writing mom make up a novel family
By Justin Kendall in Random Life
Thu., Dec. 11 2008 @ 8:05AM
The United States' Office of Stability raids an outlaw concert. The guns and chaos fail to silence a defiant singer passionately crooning Bright Eyes' "I Must Belong Somewhere." The concert is a violation of the America's ban on emotion, an attempt to end violent crime. A bullet silences what fear cannot, leading the heroine to fight against the government's suppression of what makes us human.
This alternate world is from 16-year-old Nathan Goldman. Goldman, a Shawnee Mission East High School junior and aspiring science-fiction and fantasy writer, penned this repressed world as his third crack at National Novel Writing Month.
Goldman says he explored why crying would require a partner and a witness. He wrote a summary of a world in which the American government stemmed violent crime by snuffing out emotional acts, unless approved by the Office of Stability. Americans must sign a contract in order to laugh, cry or love. Citizens not only need the contract but a partner in the act and a legal witness. Goldman imagined a society embroiled in rebellion, turmoil and extremism: musicians considered terrorists for holding underground concerts, a church preaching salvation through eradication of emotion.
"It's about one person who doesn't necessarily have a lot of power but who realizes that even if she can't destroy this, she needs to fight against it because it's not what she believes in," Goldman says.
Goldman isn't the only would-be novelist in his family. This year, Goldman's mother, Martha Gershun, and 13-year-old sister, Sarah Goldman, each wrote novels as part of the nationwide challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. (You succeed if you finish.)
"Nathan basically said, 'Mom, if you're ever going to write it, National Novel Writing Month is kind of a cool motivating factor. Why don't you take the opportunity?' " says Gershun, the former executive director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization.
Gershun accepted the challenge.
Gershun's book is biblical fiction, a rewrite of the five Books of Moses from a managerial perspective, comparing charismatic leadership (Moses) with practical leadership (Joshua). The book follows Moses and Joshua as they lead the Israeli people from slavery out of Egypt to the new land.
"My novel is really a management parable," Gershun says. "I just wanted to tell a story about how it takes both kinds of leadership. I think people in the real world make a mistake of thinking it's one or the other."
Sarah Goldman, an eighth-grader at Indian Hills Middle School, wrote a fantasy book, which her mother has yet to read. Gershun says, "It's about what happens if things you think are fiction turn out to be true."
Two years ago, Nathan Goldman wrote his first novel, Reaper, a metaphorical tale of insanity with vampires repressing their blood-lusting cravings. He was a ninth-grader. It wasn't his first novel attempt. He tried to write one in sixth grade, finishing 40 pages before giving up.
"I've always been interested in writing and want to pursue that as a career," Goldman says.
Last year, Goldman didn't reach the 50,000-word mark. He stalled out at 30,000 words but finished the novel, Anatomy of an Eyeball, over the summer. He tapped an idea from eighth grade: The world has two godlike beings, one representing total understanding of the universe, the other total ignorance. When people die, they choose total understanding or ignorance. Goldman wanted to explore free will and the gray areas between good and evil.
Goldman says this year's novel is his most advanced work. He sent me the first chapter of his novel last week. I finally read it yesterday. It was raw but captivating. I'm looking forward to reading the final draft. -- Justin Kendall
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